


Mark of a Bond

by Phantoms_Echo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Complete, Keith doesn't, Lance has words, M/M, One Shot, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, They Make It Work, and a little emo-ninja, because he's Galra, cause he's human
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:19:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22180153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantoms_Echo/pseuds/Phantoms_Echo
Summary: Lance had a terrible soulmark.Okay, so it wasn’t the worst. Some people had just ‘Hi!’ or ‘Hello!’, printed on their wrist in pretty cursive. Some had handwriting so illegible that they couldn’t read it. Others had it in other languages entirely, though learning the language was a doable, if not easy, feat.Lance didn’t like his soulmark. It was plain and unhelpful.But at least he had one.Keith… Keith didn’t. He didn’t have a soulmark. He didn’t have a soulmate. He was destined to be alone.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 479





	Mark of a Bond

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron or any of its characters, only the idea of this fic.
> 
> PS - Just popping in to say hi to everone! Had this little oneshot sitting on my shelf, so I figured I would post it now.
> 
> For those who followed me over from DCMK, I am not posting these other oneshots in any particular order. Just because I posted a Voltron fic, does not mean it is currently winning the poll. I just happened to finish editing this one first. The [ poll ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17474012/chapters/41151446) is still open for voting until I post my next hiatus, though. So if you haven't place a vote yet, please don't hesitate! :)
> 
> Now, on to the story!

Lance had a terrible soulmark.

Okay, so it wasn’t the worst. Some people had just ‘ _Hi!’_ or ‘ _Hello!’_ , printed on their wrist in pretty cursive. Some had handwriting so illegible that they couldn’t read it. Others had it in other languages entirely, though learning the language was a doable, if not easy, feat.

Others had profanity interspersed in the words which was an embarrassing thing to realize as a kid.

Lance’s mark wasn’t that bad. It was legible if a little plain, English, more than just one word, but it wasn’t very helpful.

_Who are you?_

The words implied that it was a Response to something Lance says or does when meeting his soulmate. Most likely something in reference to himself since the ‘ _who’_ seems to be stressed –or he could just be reading it that way.

Either way, he was the first to speak and his soulmate would respond, so Lance made it his mission to find unique ways to introduce himself to every person he met. He imagined it to be a fond question, maybe accompanied by a light laugh or maybe a surprised, dreamy question as the other realized they were soulmates. He didn’t know.

So far, he had heard those words many times, always accompanied by a brief spark of hope, but it was for naught. His words might have matched, but theirs did not. He felt a similar feeling when he’d found Keith trying to break Shiro out of the Garrison’s field base. When his rival didn’t react to Lance’s own introduction, Lance had brushed it off. It was a common occurrence.

(That this time was accompanied by a near overwhelming elation and subsequent depression that left hollow betrayal in his stomach? That wasn’t common. Lance still brushed it off. He didn’t want Keith as his soulmate anyway.)

Now, he was millions of lightyears from Earth in a spaceship-castle, rooming with aliens and piloting a giant robotic lion. He should be worried about a number of other higher priority things on his plate. Instead, he found his fingers tracing over the lines that tattooed themselves on his wrist.

There was a chance that he would never make it back to Earth. That he would die out in space, for a war he’d never been a part of, fighting for a planet that would likely never know it occurred. There was a chance that he and his soulmate would never meet. That they would both be left wondering and waiting until death stole them away.

It was thoughts like this that kept Lance up at night. 

“Lance?” a voice called, breaking him out of his thoughts. He looked over to see Keith standing in the doorway.

Lance frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to talk to Red. The hatch was closer than the hangar floor.” Keith pointed to the zip line that took everyone to their lions from the control room. Lance knew for a fact that the zip line and hangar were equidistance from their bedrooms, but he wouldn’t tell on Keith. After all, he knew the other was quite the adrenaline junkie.

Keith narrowed his eyes at Lance. “What are you doing here? With the star map up?”

Lance turned back to the holographic map of stars and planets to the little solar system that held an even tinier planet earth. “Just… thinking of home.”

Behind him, Keith shifted awkwardly. He probably felt out of his element. As long as Lance had known him, Keith didn’t do emotions, not unless Shiro was a factor. Discussing Lance’s feelings of homesickness was probably too much for him.

“Do you… want to talk about it?” Keith asked, sounding like he was more reading off a self-help brochure than genuine want-to-know, but it still threw Lance for a loop.

Okay, maybe Keith _could_ do the emotional talk thing.

“I just… miss Earth a lot. Family dinners, fighting with Veronica for the bathroom, helping my mom around the house….” Lance set his chin on his knee, gazing up at the holographic starts lazily turning above hi. “I miss it. You now?”

“I don’t,” Keith said in a blunt tone that meant it was the first thing that came to his mind.

He took it back. Keith couldn’t do the emotional support thing.

Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes. Really, should he have expected any different?

“I didn’t…. have a family back there,” Keith said slowly, as if he hadn’t used the words before. “My dad passed when I was young. My mom left when I was even younger. Shiro was the one that found me and got me into the Garrison. When he left, so did I.”

Lance looked over his shoulder, surprised by Keith’s story. He had known that Keith had had a chip on his shoulder. He had always seemed arrogant to Lance. He’d chalked it up to Keith being Shiro’s favorite and _knowing_ so. He hadn’t thought…

“Sorry.” He found himself saying.

Keith shook his head. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault my life turned out the way it did.”

“Maybe not,” Lance said. His mind went back to the younger Keith, the one who had stood in line with him and back-talked Iverson. He had grumbled back then at being made to run more simulations, but a small part of him had been a little awed by Keith’s audacity to stand up to authority. Lance liked to think, if things had gone differently, they could have been friends. “But I could have made it better.”

“Could you?” Keith asked with a raised brow. “I know how bad I was back then. I probably wouldn’t have taken any help, even if it made things easier.”

Lance winced at the memory of Keith yelling at Shiro before reluctantly agreeing. Lance back then probably would have made things worse. Lance right now wasn’t doing much better. He never did much better, did he?

“… I’m doing this wrong,” Keith said after a moment. “I didn’t tell you this to make you sad.”

“I’m not,” Lance argued on instinct.

“I’m telling you because I can’t understand missing Earth.” Keith came over to sit next to him. There was about a foot between them, further than Lance was used to with his friends, but probably closer than Keith had ever been to another person. “Shiro is all the family I have. And he’s here with me. My home isn’t a place.”

“It’s people,” Lance said, knowing what he meant. “Same here. But my family is on Earth. They have no idea where I am. All they know is that I vanished one day. As far as I know, I’ll never see them again. No Mama, or Papi, or Veronica, or…”

He clenched his teeth shut and took a shuddering breath. He didn’t need to get into this cycle again. He had come here to _not_ think. He could cry when the war was over. Then at least he’d have something to cry _for_.

“Are they waiting for you? Back home?” Keith asked. Lance frowned and looked up to say ‘of course’, when he saw Keith’s eyes on his wrist. He’d been tracing his words again, unconsciously. He slipped his sleeve down, but Keith had already seen. “Your soulmate. Are they waiting for you?”

“Don’t know. Maybe? Probably not,” Lance admitted. “I never found them before we left. I’m starting to think…”

_That he never would._

“I’m sorry,” Keith said quietly.

He gave a mirthless laugh and rested his chin on his knee. “You know, I actually thought at one point, it might be you.”

Immediately, Keith’s demeanor closed off. His expression turned hard.

Uh-oh, looks like Lance had just stepped on a landmine.

“Whoa, hey!” Lance held out his hands as he carefully backtracked. “It was just a joke, man. No need to get pissed over it!”

“I don’t have one,” Keith said, words both vehement and despairing. “I never did.”

It took several seconds for Lance to process those words. By then, he could only gape as Keith was up and standing before the chute that led to Red.

Galaxy grey eyes glared at him. “This never happened.”

Dumbly, Lance nodded, then Keith was gone.

Lance didn’t like his soulmark. It was plain and unhelpful.

But at least he _had_ one.

Keith… Keith didn’t. He didn’t have a soulmark. He didn’t have a soulmate. He was destined to be alone.

That hollow feeling in his stomach turned to stone.

_Well,_ Lance thought as he turned his gaze to back to the stars. _So much for sleeping tonight._

* * * * *

Keith had always had suspicions that he wasn’t human, not fully.

He was too quiet, too good at some things and too bad at others. He was far better at piloting than any dessert-rat-turned-orphan had the right to be. He was far worse at social situations than even the most socially inept person could be.

He couldn’t understand why people would lie if the truth was so much easier. He didn’t get why going easy on people made friends if they were training for war. He couldn’t fathom why soulmarks mattered so much when he didn’t have one.

He had done research, subtle and only when people weren’t looking. They didn’t need to know that he was more of a freak than he already was.

His research said that, while highly uncommon, it wasn’t impossible. In most cases, the Unmarked were terminally ill from birth or had disorders that prevented a consensual relationship. None of those applied to Keith though. It was just another thing that set him apart from others.

Really, he wasn’t surprised that he was part Galra. He was kind of surprised he hadn’t figured it out earlier.

It just made sense after that to join the Blade of Marmora. His time as the Black Paladin had proved he wasn’t fit for leading in the spotlight. Shiro would be better with the team and Keith… Keith could fade into the shadows where he belonged. He and his lack of soulmark would fit right in.

At least, that’s what he’d thought.

Then he’d woken up and seen a Mark on his jaw.

Keith had never known what the Marks were. He just knew they showed up from time to time and faded like bruises. Their coloring matched bruises too, if a bit bluer than usual. Most times, he didn’t remember getting hit, but most times, he didn’t see the damage of fights and brawls until after the fact. With the adrenaline of battle, it was hard to keep track of what blows he had taken where.

He took it as just another thing that made him weird, maybe due to his Galra blood. Keith thought nothing of it.

Kolivan did.

“Your mate is quite clumsy if they cannot block such an obvious blow,” Kolivan remarked during a break in their sparing.

Keith gave him a funny look. “Mate?”

“Your Bondmate,” Kolivan said, tapping his cheek in the same place as Keith’s bruise. “The bruising is fresh. Your skin makes it stand out as well.”

“’Bondmate’? You mean soulmate?” Keith frowned and covered the mark self-consciously. “I don’t have one.”

Kolivan’s brow furrowed. “I do not know what a soulmate is. A Bondmate is a Galra term for the other being we are bound to through time and space. They are said to be the ones to make us our best selves, to make us whole.”

“Sounds like a soulmate,” Keith commented, then grew curious. “Galra don’t seem to believe in things like fated lovers though.”

“Some Bondmates may be lovers, some friends, others rivals and enemies,” Kolivan explained. “Old stories tell of our race being double-bodied, merged at the spine. We were great warriors, so powerful that the gods rendered us in two so that we could be crippled in their wake. Our souls call in an endless   
search.”

“That sounds… kind of sad,” Keith admitted. And a lot like what his research of Earth’s soulmates had said. Keith wondered, idly, if every race had a belief in soulmates and, if so, what their origin story was.

“We were not left without a means of finding our other half,” Kolivan continued. “Though we were separated, we still share one body. It is why such marks as that appear where the other half of us has been injured. Finding the one who shares the mark is the only way to end the Search. Through war, we were born. Through war, we rose to power. And through war, we will find that which makes us stronger.”

“But I don’t have a soulmate,” Keith argued. “Humans have words on their wrist. I don’t.”

“That Mark says otherwise.”

“It’s just a bruise.”

“It is not. I have seen your skin bruise from our spars. This is not like that.” Kolivan’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you insist you are Bondless?”

“Because…” Keith fell quiet, hand still on his Mark. “I… I thought I would never have one. It’s… weird to think about.”

Kolivan gave him a calculating look before grunting and unsheathing his sword. “You respite is over. Prepare yourself.”

Then Keith was back in the throes of the fight. He tried to keep his head in the game as they danced a deadly display of sword and steel. It was hard though. He kept making amateur mistakes, but who could blame him?

He just found out he had a _soulmate_!

He fell for the fourth time in twenty minutes.

“If you are not careful.” Kolivan stood over him, sword poised under his chin. “Your Bondmate will have a permanent Mark instead of a temporary one.”

“Like a scar?” Keith asked. This whole thing was far too interesting to leave alone.

“Even scars disappear when they are a Mark,” Kolivan said. “The only permanent Mark, is the one you die from.”

Keith fell quiet, mulling over the repercussions of such a thing.

Kolivan stared down at him for several moments before sighing and sheathing his sword. “I can see this has had more impact on you than I had first thought. Take time to dwell on the Marks and what they mean to you.”

He held out a hand to Keith, face hard. “Then, once you have made your peace, leave those emotions behind. They will only hinder you.”

“I thought you said Bondmates are what make us stronger?” Keith frowned and pulled himself up.

“In times of peace, such a thing would be possible,” Kolivan said coldly. “While there is a war, there is no guarantee you will ever find the one on the other side of your Bond. They may die before your Search is over. Even if that happens, you must continue to pick up your sword and _fight_.”

Keith could only take his mentor’s hard stare for a few ticks before he lowered his gaze. “I understand.”

“Good.” Kolivan released him. “Meet back here tomorrow. We start again at the sixth hour.”

Keith would likely be there earlier.

Saluting his mentor, Keith turned and made his way back to his quarters. The conversation with Kolivan had given him a lot to think about, but mainly one thing: Keith had a soulmate.

* * * * *

After that conversation, Keith kept close watch on the various Marks that appeared on his body. They didn’t appear every day, or even every week, but they were often enough that he figured his soul— _Bondmate_ had to be part of the war. Though which side that was, Keith had no idea.

He had woken up one day with his left ankle encased in blue, like a giant bruise from the top of his foot to half-way up his shin. Keith winced at the sheer size of it. That injury would no doubt take a long time to heal. Likely the ankle was sprained if not broken out right.

Just what was his Bondmate doing to incur such injuries?

A knock on the door prompted Keith to finish dressing before letting his visitor in.

“Keith,” Kolivan greeted calmly. “Princess Allura has requested you presence aboard the Altean ship.”

“What is it?” Keith asked, immediately worried. “Was there some kind of attack? An emergency?”

_Was Shiro okay? Were Pidge and Hunk? Were Allura and Coran? Was Lance?_

“She believes Voltron has found a covert base of operations of the Galran Empire. Voltron was taken by surprise and forced to retreat to our galaxy, but she does not want to give them time to mount a counter attack.” Kolivan explained. “You will be going to discuss plans with her and fill the position of a paladin.”

“Fill a position?” Keith frowned. There were two lions that had accepted him as their paladin. In theory, he should be able to pilot Red or Black, but more importantly… “Someone got hurt? _Killed_?”

“As I understand it, the Red Paladin is currently out of commission, but some rest and a few weeks to heal should put him to rights,” Kolivan said.

_The Red Paladin… Lance?_ Keith wondered just how bad it was to take the Cuban out of the fight. For all their interactions, Lance pushed himself almost as hard as Keith did and liked being benched even less. That wasn’t to say he would complain about it or argue with Shiro’s command, but after their talk…

Keith knew how important being a Paladin was to Lance. Having to give that position up to Keith was probably killing him.

“I’ll take a pod to them immediately.” Keith started making a mental list of the things he would need to take with him. Not much, just an overnight bag or something. He had always traveled light.

“In the meantime, I will gather the troops in the area that will be able to provide cover fire or back up, should Voltron require it.” Kolivan nodded to Keith. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.” Keith nodded back and then got to work on gathering his things.

The blue Mark on his leg was nothing but a forgotten memory.

* * * * *

It was easy to find the Castle of Lions once he managed to hail them. Allura gave him the coordinates to program into his small speeder, then it was just a matter of staying on course. He had to break auto-pilot a few times in order to skirt Galran patrols, but only a few hours later, he was pulling into the ship’s docking bay and climbing out to stretch his legs.

He may love piloting, but sitting around for hours was a drag no matter what he was doing.

Bag in hand, Keith stopped off to his bedroom first before going to search for the rest of his friends. And after several weeks in space and countless battles together, they were his friends. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he was sure they knew it anyway.

“Keith!” Pidge called when she spied him from what had come to be used as a common room. He gave a wave in recognition, already looking for the rest of the team. “You’re back! How was your mission?”

“Successful,” he said simply. “Where’s Hunk and Lance?”

“Don’t you usually look for Shiro?” Pidge noted, but didn’t wait for an answer. “Hunk and Lance are in the kitchen. Lance sprained his ankle on our last mission, so he’s bugging Hunk for comfort food.”

Keith halted outside the hallway to the kitchen. “His ankle?”

“Yeah.” Pidge turned back to her laptop, already distracted. “He’s been whining about it all week. Uses it to try and wheedle things out of everyone.”

“Which ankle?” Keith asked, suddenly remembering the discoloration on his own skin. “Left or right?”

“Uh, left I think?” Pidge’s brow furrowed in thought, then she looked over. “Why do you need to know?”

But Keith was already on the move, rushing through the halls towards the kitchen.

“Hey!” Pidge called after, but Keith didn’t slow down. He had a theory in his head, a hope sprouting in his chest. It was probably nothing. He tried to tell himself it was nothing.

But he had to be sure.

“-telling you, garlic knots should not be this hard! It’s just bread and garlic! In a knot form!” Lance argued from a chair on the other side of the kitchen from Hunk. His left ankle was propped up on a pillow next to him and a weirdly shaped crutch leaned against the wall to his side.

“And I’m telling _you_ , that every garlicky spice I’ve used has turned different flavors in the oven!” Hunk defended. “I can’t help it, Lance. I’m doing my best, but I just don’t have a recipe on hand. I might be able to come up with something, but it could take _days—_ Oh, hey Keith!”

“Huh?” Lance perked up and turned to look over as Keith strode up to him. “Oh, hey Mullet. You back from being an Emo-ninj—hey!”

Keith ignored him as he grabbed Lance’s arm and shoved up his sleeve.

“Uh, Keith? Buddy?” Lance sounded worried, but he let Keith do as he wished. “Can I ask what you’re doing?”

“A test,” Keith said, then pinched Lance hard enough to leave a mark.

“ _Yeoow!”_ Lance howled and yanked back his arms. “What the hell was that for?!”

Keith shoved up his own sleeve to check. Before his eyes, a Mark slowly bled into existence in the exact same spot he’d pinched Lance.

“What the hell?” Pidge remarked.

Keith startled, looking over to see her watching his arm as well. She must have followed him from the common room.

She grabbed at his arm. “How did you do that? What _is_ that? Did you run into some weird plant or something? For something to have this kind of effect, it has to be biological, but then why Lance? Or is it only Lance? Does it work for multiple-?”

Before she could get too far along, Keith answered her question. “It’s a Bondmark.”

Her muttering halted and Lance’s whining stopped as all three looked to him.

“While I was training, Kolivan, one of the Blade members, he commented on a Mark I had,” Keith explained. “I’ve always had these… things that showed up. Like bruises, but not naturally colored. I thought it was normal growing up, but it didn’t appear on anyone else. Then I just thought it was another thing that made me a freak.”

“Keith…” Hunk said quietly.

“But Kolivan explained it to me,” Keith continued before Hunk could get all sensitive and comforting. “The Galra, they don’t have soulmarks or soulmates. They have Bondmarks and Bondmates. Marks like these appear in places where our Bondmates have been injured and can be used to identify the one who will make us better, the one who will make us ‘whole’.”

“Fascinating,” Pidge muttered to herself. “To think there are multiple ways of finding a soulmate…”

“Wait, but you pinched Lance and then a mark appeared on you,” Hunk said, verbally working through the logic. “Then, that means…”

“I’m your soulmate?” Lance finished quietly, unsure.

When Keith looked over, Lance seemed… fragile. There was no other word for it. It looked like he wanted nothing more in the world than to believe it, but at the same time, like the ground would slip out from under him in a second if he did.

Keith didn’t like that look. He needed to fix it.

“I think so,” Keith said quietly, but confidently. “I woke up this morning with a Mark on my ankle. When Pidge told me you had been hurt, I grew suspicious. I wasn’t sure of it, so I had to test it, but… well, you saw the results yourself.”

Lance drew his hand down his arm, revealing the dark mark Keith had left behind. One that mirrored itself on Keith’s pale skin, despite having not been touched.

“You’re my soulmate.” Lance let out a shaky breath. “ _You’re my_ _soulmate_!”

“Uh, Lance?” Keith wavered. “Are you okay? Did you… not want me?”

“That is _not_ the issue here, Mullet!” Lance squawked. “You’re my soulmate! We’ve been on this ship together for, like, two years! _We’ve wasted so much time!_ ”

“And we’ve lost him,” Hunk commented.

“This is getting too close to ‘feelings’ territory for me,” Pidge said as she headed back towards the hallway. “If you need me, I’ll be in the common room.”

“We could have been having dates!” Lance continued. “Or stargazing! I could have been showing you off to all the other aliens! _We could have been a universal power couple!”_

“I’m out too.” Hunk waved as he turned back to his cooking. “Best of luck to you, Keith.”

Keith gave him a grateful nod before turning to the Red Paladin who was still going on and on about ‘missed opportunities’. “Lance. Hey! _Lance_!”

“What?” Lance groused, unhappy about being interrupted.

“Just…” Keith leaned in, gaze heavy on his newly discovered soulmate. “Kiss me?”

Lance froze, mouth open before remembering himself. Smooth as silk, a smile spread across his face. “I thought you’d never ask.”

They were still neck deep in a war that spanned the entire universe. They were still part of the only thing that could keep the Galra Empire at bay. There was still the chance that neither one of them would come out of this war alive.

But right then, staring into his Bondmate’s eyes as the other leaned closer, Keith had a feel they would be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure there are a ton of stories like this one out there, but when I get an idea in my head, I can't really help myself. :) Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Have a good day!
> 
> And for those who know what I'm talking about, don't forget to [ vote ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17474012/chapters/41151446)! Voting ends Feb. 29.


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